Story-Based Inquiry (Investigative Journalism)

This four-part course gives you the foundation for starting, deepening, organizing and writing an investigative report or article. It covers the Story-Based Inquiry (SBI) method, which has been successfully used by thousands of journalists, academics and NGO researchers since its publication by UNESCO in 2009. The core insight of SBI is that investigating and writing can form one coherent process. The investigator begins with a hypothesis that is testable. From this follows an outline for the story and a map for locating sources. The final product is a database that records the quest and the material found. The theory of the method is also described in several textbooks, so we have time during the course to address the work and practice of the participants.

Data Journalism

Learn to "interview" data for original stories or to support your investigation. First we'll cover the questions you can ask of data. Then we'll use simple statistics to answer those questions. Discover differences, trends, typical examples, exceptions, proportions and relationships you would never have noticed without data. We do not treat the techniques 'separately' but as parts of a logical workflow; you will also learn to organize a data project. Also covered are: finding data, building your own databases, scrapping with Google, cleaning with OpenRefine, merging tables, statistics with formulas, analyzing with pivot tables and visualizing with Google charts. After this course, you will master 90 percent of the techniques used by typical data journalists. The course includes a reference book that explains the work process and all techniques.

R for Journalists

Working in a spreadsheet can be messy and cluttered. Especially if you have a very large data set and need to perform many operations. You have to document every step to be able to repeat your analyses later (for verification or with new data). Fortunately, there's R. With a few simple lines of code, you can do the same things in R as you would in a spreadsheet: scrape, cleanup, sort, filter, group (pivot tables), create statistics and graphs, but now in an uncluttered workflow that can be easily modified, repeated and shared. Experience why R (freeware) has quickly captured the hearts of many data journalists. A comprehensive workbook with sample scripts and exercises accompanies the course. (Some experience with spreadsheets is recommended for this course, but not required).

Interviewing

Interviewing is the art of listening and continuing to ask questions. What knowledge, experience, emotion or motivation lies behind the rehearsed talk? And how do you get to that 'second story'? Together with Evert de Vos I give this training, which is special because we practice in realistic role-plays. You interview one of the trainers (who assumes a role that you may determine) while the other gives feedback. You learn as much from your own interview as by watching and listening to the other trainees. The course is accompanied by a comprehensive handbook with checklists, questionnaires and scenarios to help you prepare for your next interview. Upon request, we also pay attention to interview writing. If you conduct mostly friendly interviews, for example with colleagues or for the internal medium of an organization or company, we can also teach you how to present the interviewees in the most knowledgeable and sympathetic way possible.

Earth Journalism

It is not surprising that chief editors and environmental journalists struggle with the question Are we doing it right?" when reporting on the climate crisis. Climate journalism is subject to rapid change. The terms alone are rapidly shifting: "climate change," "climate crisis," "mass extinction... Having achieved our first goal — making people aware of the problem — we are now wary of scaring and depressing our readers, viewers and listeners. At the same time, we know that the topic will never go off the agenda again. How can you make climate part of virtually all reports on all topics? Which developments are really important to follow (and which are not)? How do you prevent 'climate fatigue' among your audience? Where does journalism end and activism begin? In this training we look at best practices at home and abroad. What have we learned, where exactly are we now and what challenges lie ahead?

Writing opinions and analyses

Interpreting the news is a delicate art. The facts should lead naturally to an inevitable conclusion, without the writer intervening as a preacher. But that's not easy, because the writer usually has his or her own opinion. In this course you will learn to apply rhetorical techniques in a commentary or analysis. The ancient Greeks and Romans already knew how to make an honest, factual, convincing and compelling argument without putting your own interests first. This training is also very suitable for people preparing for a discussion or debate.